"An Act to Divide North Carolina into Eight Congressional Districts," Raleigh, North Carolina General Assembly (1871)

"An Act to Divide North Carolina into Eight Congressional Districts," Raleigh, North Carolina General Assembly (1871)

After the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution in 1870, which enfranchised the sizable African American population in North Carolina, white Democrats worked to curb black political power. One way they were able to successfully curtail African America power in Congress was to draw congressional districts in a manner favorable to them. In 1872 the General Assembly passed legislation which propagated the new districts. The second congressional district, which included the counties of Warren, Northampton, Halifax, Edgecombe, Wilson, Wayne, Lenoir, Craven, Greene, and Jones, heavily concentrated the African American population within a single voting district. More than one-fifth of all African Americans living in North Carolina were living in the area created to be the "Black Second." Democrats, thus, saturated on district with the black, and therefore Republican, vote in order to increase the chances of Democratic control in the other seven.

North Carolina General Assembly

North Carolina General Assembly, "An Act to Divide North Carolina into Eight Congressional Districts," Public Laws of the State of North Carolina Passed by the General Assembly at its Session 1871-1872, Begun and Held in the City of Raleigh, on the Twentieth Day of November 1871 (Raleigh: Theo N. Ramsey, State Printer and Binder, 1871).

Griffin, Kelsey

Document

Government Document

CHAPTER CLXXI.

AN ACT TO DIVIDE NORTH CAROLINA INTO EIGHT CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS

Section 1. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact, That for the purpose of selecting representatives in the congress of the United States, the state of North Carolina shall be divided into eight districts, as follows:

The first district shall be composed of the counties of Currituck, Camden, Pasquoatank, Perquimans, Gates, Chowan, Hertford, Hyde, Beafort, Pitt, Pamlico, Bertie, Martin, Washington, Tyrrell and Dare.

The second district shall be composed of the counties of Edgecombe, Wilson, Green, Wayne, Lenoir, Jones, Craven, Northampton, Warren and Halifax.

The third district shall be composed of the counties of Onslow, Duplin, Sampson, Harnett, Cumberland, Bladen, Columbus, Brunswick, Hanover, Carteret, Moore.

The fourth district shall be composed of the counties of Johnston, Wake, Chatham, Orange, Granville, Franklin, Nash.

The fifth district shall be composed of the counties of Randolph, Davidson, Guilford, Alamance, Person, Caswell, Rockingham, Stokes.

The sixth district shall be composed of the counties of Robeson, Montgomery, Richmond, Anson, Stanly, Cabarrus, Union, Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba.

The sevent district shall be composed of the counties of Forsyth, Surry, Yadkin, Davie, Rowan, Iredell, Alexander, Wilkes, Alleghany, Ashe, Watanga.

The eighth district shall be composed of the counties of Caldwell, Burke, Cleaveland, Mitchell, Yancey, McDowell, Transylvania, Buncombe, Madison, Haywood, Jackson, Swain, Macon, Clay, Graham, Cherokee, Rutherford, Polk and Henderson.

Sec. 2. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.

Ratified the 9th day of February, A.D. 1872